HELP – PCN from CEL Five Valleys

PeanutMnM

Hi Everyone,

I am after some help please. I have read the NEWBIES thread and wish I had found this forum sooner before acting. I am now not sure what to do...

I received a PCN in the post from Civil Enforcement Ltd stating payment was not made with the terms of the car park. The PCN was for £100 with a reduction of £60 if paid before 14 days. This was at Five Valleys car park in Stroud. I had paid for parking and had a ticket to prove it so I appealed with them and uploaded a photograph of my ticket.

They rejected my appeal which I really was not expecting since I had paid and are now saying that I had not entered by registration in correctly at the time. I immediately thought this was nonsense as my payment ticket only showed the amount paid, time parking was valid until, a timestamp for when I paid and then a two letters which are not my number plate and certainly not ones I would of typed in. They reduced the PCN to £20 for a keying in error, but in my annoyed rage I appealed to POPLA straight away which meant they instantly took the £20 offer off the table before the 14 day window within BPA guidance was up. I appealed as I do not believed I entered my reg in incorrectly and the two letters they are saying I typed in are no where near my registration so I said it must have been a machine fault.

Sadly my appeal was also rejected by POPLA on the basis that there was a keying in error. Apparently CEL submitted evidence showing other motorists payments with their full registrations which they say was sufficient to show there was a mistake keying in. I am yet to see this evidence as I have been unable to access anything on the POPLA website and CEL ignored my request for evidence when I appealed directly to them.

CEL has now given me 28 days to make payment for the £100 from the 30th July. They have said further costs will be incurred including interest and fees to the claim and they will issue proceedings to recover it.

I am now not sure on my next steps. Should I write to the landowner or is that useless since I already appealed to POPLA costing CEL money? Should I write to CEL or POPLA to complain? Or should I just pay up, forget about it and move on as I do not want to incur further costs and not sure on the liklihood of winning.

Thanks in advance.

PeanutMnM

PeanutMnM said:

Hi Everyone,

I am after some help please. I have read the NEWBIES thread and wish I had found this forum sooner before acting. I am now not sure what to do...

I received a PCN in the post from Civil Enforcement Ltd stating payment was not made with the terms of the car park. The PCN was for £100 with a reduction of £60 if paid before 14 days. This was at Five Valleys car park in Stroud. I had paid for parking and had a ticket to prove it so I appealed with them and uploaded a photograph of my ticket.

They rejected my appeal which I really was not expecting since I had paid and are now saying that I had not entered by registration in correctly at the time. I immediately thought this was nonsense as my payment ticket only showed the amount paid, time parking was valid until, a timestamp for when I paid and then a two letters which are not my number plate and certainly not ones I would of typed in. They reduced the PCN to £20 for a keying in error, but in my annoyed rage I appealed to POPLA straight away which meant they instantly took the £20 offer off the table before the 14 day window within BPA guidance was up. I appealed as I do not believed I entered my reg in incorrectly and the two letters they are saying I typed in are no where near my registration so I said it must have been a machine fault.

Sadly my appeal was also rejected by POPLA on the basis that there was a keying in error. Apparently CEL submitted evidence showing other motorists payments with their full registrations which they say was sufficient to show there was a mistake keying in. I am yet to see this evidence as I have been unable to access anything on the POPLA website and CEL ignored my request for evidence when I appealed directly to them.

CEL has now given me 28 days to make payment for the £100 from the 30th July. They have said further costs will be incurred including interest and fees to the claim and they will issue proceedings to recover it.

I am now not sure on my next steps. Should I write to the landowner or is that useless since I already appealed to POPLA costing CEL money? Should I write to CEL or POPLA to complain? Or should I just pay up, forget about it and move on as I do not want to incur further costs and not sure on the liklihood of winning.

Thanks in advance.

Typo in original post, I mean 30th August not 30th July. 

B789

You are now the victim of a scam. If you pay it, you become a part of the problem and will be marked by the scammers as a "mug" for future reference. We never recommend paying the scammers.

What was the location of this car park? There are probably other similar cases which can be referenced.

The keying error scam is a well known one with many occurrences of people being stung with these false invoices.

As you are now involved in the process, you should read the Newbies/FAQ thread, second post in particular for if/when you receive a Letter of Claim and how to respond. Your defence is already templated and will only require 2 short paragraphs from you should the proceed to a claim.

In the meantime, the POPLA decision can be ignored and has no bearing on any future claim should it get that far. You will just have to weather the storm of useless debt-collector letters. As advised in the Newbies/FAQ thread, these are harmless unless you are very gullible. They are designed to bully and scare victims into paying but they have no power to do anything.

Having read the Newbies/FAQ thread, you should come back and tell us on this thread if they send you a letter of claim.

PeanutMnM

Ok, thank you. It was Five Valleys car park in Stroud. Since I have received the PCN, I have checked on Google and the reviews are shocking, seems it dishes out a lot of PCNs. 

Would you recommend for me to just wait and see if I receive a letter of claim or is there anything I should do in the meantime? Such as complain to the landowner and write to CEL to complain to them, ask for their evidence since I was not provided it when I appealed and possibly ask them to set out their "losses"? I also note the postcode for the car park is different on the PCN to that on Google Maps, does that make a difference in anyway? 

Coupon-mad

Just wait and see - and if you get a £170 threatogram before October 8th, please please use it as evidence to answer at least Question 4 in the DLUHC's CALL FOR EVIDENCE.

PeanutMnM

Thanks Coupon-Mad, I will do. 

PeanutMnM

Hi, an update.. I have now received the letter threatening debt collection and legal proceedings for the increased sum of £170. 

Has the DLUHC call for evidence now closed?

UncleThomasCobley

Yes, the call for evidence is closed. However, you have already been told that you ignore the debt collector letters as they are impotent. Maybe you should re-read the Newbies/FAQ thread.

If/when you receive an LoC/LBC, re-read the second post in the Newbies/FAQ thread which explains in full detail what must be done and by when.

PeanutMnM

Hi everyone,

I have now received a letter before action claim for debt direct from Civil Enforcement Ltd. 
From reading the forum, should I write Civil Enforcement using the template provided? 
The letter asks to fill out a reply form. Thank you 

Le_Kirk

PeanutMnM said:

I have now received a letter before action claim for debt direct from Civil Enforcement Ltd. 
From reading the forum, should I write Civil Enforcement using the template provided? 
The letter asks to fill out a reply form. Thank you 

All answers are in the NEWBIE sticky and you state you have read it.  You do not need to complete their intrusive financial forms.

PeanutMnM

Hi thank you for your reply. I will not be filling out the financial form, however I could not see on the thread if I should fill out the reply form? Picture below. Apologies if I have missed any reference to that. The letter before action I received has two forms, this and the financial information form. Of course i would be ticking dispute the debt.